EU faces investment gap of hundreds of billions of euros

The European Commission here on Friday said that Europe faced an investment gap of hundreds of billions of Euros, as the the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) meeting is to take place from June 7 to 8 in Germany.

According to a fact sheet released by the Commission, G7 leaders will assess progress on Financial Market Regulation, and on the road to a fair and modern tax system at the summit.

With the Investment Plan for Europe and the recently agreed European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) at its core, public and private investments in the real economy of at least 315 billion euros (350 billion U.S. dollars) will be unlocked over the next three years, said the fact sheet.

According to the fact sheet, EU member states' finance ministers are expected to approve the Regulation to set up the EFSI at the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council on June 19. Afterward the European Parliament is expected to vote in plenary on the Regulation on June 24, allowing the EFSI to be operational by September as planned.

"The top priority of the EU is to get the European economy growing again; to increase the number of jobs without creating new debt, enhance public and private investment, as well as to ensure tax fairness and transparency and enable open and fair free trade," said the fact sheet.

On the global trade agenda, the fact sheet said that G7 leaders are expected to further commit to open markets and to fight protectionism, to contribute to the full implementation of the WTO Bali package, and to take stock of major ongoing bilateral trade negotiations. Discussions on how to better apply international social and environmental standards in global supply chains will also be on the agenda.

G7 is a group consisted of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, UK and Japan. The EU is also represented within the G7. The group used to be called G8 with Russia's participation. On March 2014, the group blamed Russia's role in the Crimean crisis and voted to suspend Russia's membership.